Driving home from my parents house in Devon to my place in Fleet, Hants in
the atrocious rain and wind on Sunday night. MG got us home ok which was
good but has now developed a rather flat battery. Story goes like this...
Sitting in heavy traffic about 3/4 way home, lights on, heater on, wipers
on, etc and the red charge warning light came on for about 10 seconds and
then went off again. Assumed water on the fan belt and thought nothing more
of it. Got home about an hour later and switched off to see the red light
come on WITH THE KEY OUT!! This is quite clearly wrong so I disconnected the
coil LT wires for fear of being woken by the fire brigade in the middle of
the night putting out my burning garage. In the morning the light was still
on, dimly, and the battery was flat as a pancake.
I know that this light sits between 12V (key pos II?) and the alto regulator
circuitry. Seeing as the indicators etc didn't work with the key out this
rules out a knackered ign key barrel. Looks to me like a blown diode or
something in the alto. Great! Also, how did it get us home? Must have been
charging weakly. Why did it blow? Most likely water got in due to the heavy
spray on the roads.
I went to disconnect the battery earlier. Took me a while to find it. What a
daft place! Under the rear seat with half a dozen screws on the cover. And I
thought minis were bad with it in the boot? Gave up on that idea, so looked
for the solonoid....no-where to be seen. Anyone know where it is hiding? In
the end I pulled the plug out of the alto. Later I will see if eg: the radio
works on the residual charge. If it does then the alto is definitely duff.
Got a spare but not sure if it is a good'n.
Why does this always happen as soon as winter is here?
Scott
PS: Couple of other quick Q for you experts...
- Where does the water go which enters the vent in front of the wind screen?
- HRW doesn't work. Green lamp doesn't light. Does this run on a seperate
fuse?
- We seem to be loosing oil...but no sign of any leaks. Can a B series
really burn 2L in 300 miles?
- Overdrive still taking a while to engage. It sometimes comes in and out as
it engages. Is this normal?
- Should I avoid making the engine labour with overdrive engaged? eg: switch
it out in 4th for fast hills rather than OD'd 3rd?
- Oil pressure sits around 25psi. Can I simply pack the OPRV cap like on A
series engines?
- Can't seem to get oil filters in Halfords. Is there another modern car's
filter which fits?
- What else used the 1800 B series? Princess? Marina? Landrover? I'd like to
get a spare engine to play with.
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